By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The security forces have killed 12 militants in a series of clashes in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan after the attackers targeted a police station and two banks in an attempt to seize hostages and loot cash, the military said on Friday.
The assaults unfolded on Thursday in Kharan, a remote district center, where 15 to 20 militants struck the City Police Station, a branch of the National Bank of Pakistan and another of Habib Bank Limited, according to a statement from the military’s media arm, the Inter-Services Public Relations. The militants, whom the military labeled as members of “Fitna Al Hindustan” — a term Pakistan uses to describe Baloch separatist groups it accuses of receiving Indian support — looted about Rs3.4 million, before retreating under fire.
“Security forces effectively responded and engaged the terrorists, prompting them to retreat,” the statement said. “During the ensuing clearance operation, twelve terrorists were sent to hell in three different engagements.”
The military added that the attackers’ plan to create a hostage situation at the police station had been thwarted, and that sanitisation operations were continuing in the surrounding areas to root out any remaining threats. One civilian, Abdul Hakeem, was wounded in the neck by gunfire and was evacuated to a military hospital for treatment, officials said.
Balochistan’s chief minister, Sarfaraz Bugti, described the raid as a fleeting incursion during a news conference. “They came for five to ten minutes, tried to break into banks and ATMs and took around Rs3.4 million from the National Bank,” he said, adding a stern warning that any future attacks would be met with force.
The episode comes amid a surge in militant violence across Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan and the neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, despite aggressive counterterrorism efforts by the military and law enforcement agencies.
A report by the Islamabad-based Pak Institute for Peace Studies found that terrorist attacks rose by 34 percent in 2025 compared with the previous year, while fatalities from such violence increased by 21 percent.
At a news briefing earlier this month, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the director general of the Inter-Services Public Relations, said Pakistani forces had carried out 75,175 intelligence-based operations nationwide last year, including 58,778 in Balochistan alone. He reported 5,397 terror incidents in 2025, with nearly three-quarters occurring in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and most of the rest in Balochistan.
Just days before the Kharan attacks, on Jan. 13, security forces killed four militants in an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Kalat district. Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by area but its smallest by population, has long been a hotbed of separatist insurgency, with groups demanding greater autonomy or independence from the central government in Islamabad. Attacks often focus on security personnel, infrastructure projects and civilians, fueling a cycle of violence that has claimed thousands of lives over decades.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of fueling the unrest by backing these groups, a charge that New Delhi has denied. The military’s statement on Friday reiterated its commitment to a “relentless counterterrorism campaign” under the banner of “Azm-e-Istehkam,” a national action plan aimed at eradicating foreign-sponsored terrorism.
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